


run from the one (who you know that you love)

by liveyourtemptation



Category: Fast and the Furious Series
Genre: M/M, follows along the plot of fast 8, roman needs to get his shit together, tej and ramsey are bffs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-25 22:13:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10773528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liveyourtemptation/pseuds/liveyourtemptation
Summary: Tej is in Miami when Dom calls.





	run from the one (who you know that you love)

Tej is in Miami when Dom calls. Maybe because he is missing Brian and this had always been their spot or because it has been time to see his mom again, after all he is a good son who visits regularly. She thinks he is out of the game, and she is so proud of him for owning that garage, making an honest living. For all Tej knows he might be making an honest living, as much as anyone working for a shady government agency tells themselves they make an honest living. But there isn't much honesty about if you can't tell your mom about it, or when you get called in to do the most dangerous, most illegal shit no one else wants to do.

 

But his mom doesn't know about it, and it's best that way. She keeps asking when Tej will bring that nice friend of his around again, you know, the one who talks so much with that smile; and Tej groans, he knows which smile, and regrets ever bringing Roman home. Looking back he can't really remember why he at one point thought it was a good idea, because he knows how Roman gets, and that he can actually be charming to woman when he doesn't try to hit on them and will use every chance he gets to sneak his way into Tej's life, including sweet talking his mother until she tells him all the embarrassing childhood stories. I bet you were one of those geeks in high school, Roman grinned, with those nerd-ass glasses and no friends. Yeah, and then I took them off and became prom queen after all, Tej said, rolling his eyes at Roman so his mother didn't see it. So he regrets bringing Roman home, as he regrets so many things concerning Roman, and he groans when his mom asks when he will bring him around again, and she looks funny at him and asks if they had a fight. No, they hadn't. There isn't anything to fight about, really. Not that they talked for the last month either. But whatever.

 

So Tej is in Miami when Dom calls, snoring away on his mom's couch, because he is steadily approaching the age where midday naps start becoming the best thing in the world again. Dom calls and tells him, in twelve hours in Berlin. Tej rubs a hand over his eyes, and thinks, why the fuck Berlin. You know I have to get on a transatlantic flight, he says to Dom, because sometimes he allows himself to be this petty. But just to Dom, because he knows he's there to take it. With Dom Tej doesn't have to pretend to be the most responsible one of the bunch of them. It's important, Dom says, and Tej answers, yeah, no kidding, it always is. Aren't you on your honeymoon, anyway? Dom stays silent, and Tej gets a feeling that there is something wrong, and maybe it's just that Dom is upset about being interrupted on his honeymoon, or it's something else entirely. With Dom it's always hard to tell, the only people who can read him with any certainty are Letty and Brian but Letty never felt the need to share with the class what she could read from Dom's glances and Brian isn't here, he's out of the game, however the fuck he achieved that, probably Mia swearing bloody murder if he didn't quit, but that means that Tej has to try to decipher Dom's mood on his own now, and he hates it.

 

In twelve hours, Dom repeats, and Tej says, yes, of course.

 

First class means space but it's still eight hours to Frankfurt and then another hour to Berlin. In the layover in Frankfurt Tej goes looking for a Starbucks to get a coffee but he spends twenty minutes wandering through that fucking airport without luck so he gets an overpriced coffee at a no brand shop and almost doesn't catch his flight.

 

He is too early in Berlin, of course, so he takes a taxi downtown and wanders through bad weather and too many tourists and tries to look at this strange city but it's mostly just that, strange. At checkpoint Charlie he stares at the picture of the American soldier looming over everything, like a reminder, this was once American ground so it shall be forever. He looks for the wall, turns around himself but there are only more Asian tourists and no wall. Well, they did tear it down after all, didn't they.

 

An unmarked black van picks him up without him having to tell them his location and he'll probably never get used to that, doesn't know if it is luxurious or scary, either way, he doesn't like it. But there is probably no bus he could have taken to their safe house.

 

Hobbs is already there, smiling tight-lipped, good to see you, Tej. Yeah you, too, what's up, how's your girl? Good, good, how are you? You know, same old, same old.

 

Roman's arrival is marked by a loud ruckus down the hall, and Tej steels himself, doesn't even know against what, but then Roman drifts into the room, talking so fast Tej's head starts spinning, he always forget the pace of the guy, and spares him hardly a glance and a wave. Ramsey is there, poor girl, and sometimes Tej just wants to physically put himself in front of her when Roman gets like this, but she doesn't need Tej to stand up for her, and Tej wouldn't know if he's doing it exactly for her benefit only, anyway.

 

Dom and Letty slip in not much later, turned towards each other like always, Dom's arm around Letty, and Tej can never decide if it looks like he is holding her close or leaning on her. Maybe both. Tej keeps staring at the door as if he is expecting someone else to walk in, and it hits him again how much they have lost, and it always happens in moments like these, somewhere in the in between, leaving him breathless and curling his hands into fists. He catches Roman staring at him, like he knows exactly what he is thinking about, and Tej fucking hates it.

 

Hobbs explains the situation, and Tej keeps thinking, great, this is just great. How did he end up on the A-Team, why him of all people. Roman was right, he is just some nerd who wants to play with expensive toys and not think about weapons of mass destruction and if stealing them from one shady organization to give it to another is the right thing to do. But he stays and helps, of course, because it's his family and they asked for his help, and impending doom is better than instant doom, so he ignores Roman needling him about some tune up of his car and tries to come up with a plan. It's so much easier without Brian here, and so much harder at the same time. At least no one is suggesting to drop out of a plane with their cars but on the other hand no one is suggesting to drop out of a plane with their cars. Tej isn't sure if living life by 'what would Brian do' is a good idea, Brian seems to have survived it until now only because he's got some killer karma or some shit, counting all the times he hurled himself towards a gun, figuratively and very literally. Well, Tej thinks, what would Brian do, and then he sees the wrecking ball.

 

It works out well enough, until Dom turns on them, and then everything goes to shit. Tej keeps thinking back to the call, Dom had seemed off back then, maybe Tej should have asked or said something. Letty leaves, doors slamming, and Ramsey grabs Tej by the arm and says, drinks, right now. They end up in the back of some Berlin bar, ignoring Roman's calls. The first time Ramsey and Tej had met outside of team activities they had promised each other to never tell Roman that they are hanging out because he would be a bitch about it. Ramsey turns her phone mute with a heavy sigh and a dirty look at Tej. Can you two finally figure your shit out so he stops harassing me? I don't know what you're talking about, Tej says into his second vodka lemon, and honestly he doesn't. Like, he knows what she is implying because she has been implying it since they met, but he doesn't know where she gets the impression that that's what's going on. Do you think it's true, he says instead, do you think Dom turned on us? She just sighs again but looks kinder now. I know you got some kind of hero worship going on for that guy but none of you are saints and neither is he. Tej knows she is right, says, you know, you talk about us as if you don't belong to the team.

 

When the men come to take them in Tej isn't even surprised. He knows the feeling of cuffs around his wrists all too well, it's still a shitty feeling but he plays it cool because Ramsey got that cagey look in her eyes that means she is about to majorly blow up and he doesn't have to make it worse. Roman is already in the car, and he doesn't say anything but his look speaks volumes when he sees them together. Tej pretends it doesn't bother him. All three of them get hustled into a helicopter and two hours later Tej has no idea where the fuck they are, doesn't know enough about Europe to tell if the sea beneath them is the Baltic or Mediterranean one.

 

Letty is already in the conference room, also in cuffs, no bit of warmth in her eyes. They leave them alone in the room for hours. Most of the time no one says a word, Tej can feel Roman stare at him, and he doesn't try to think about what it means, but Ramsey's word are stuck on his mind.

 

When Hobbs and Mr. Nobody show up Tej is this short of straight up panicking because, fuck, Dom turned on them, and Letty is taking it so hard, and Brian would know what to do, but he's not here, and Han is dead, dead, dead.

 

Mr. Nobody makes them work with Shaw, and Tej doesn't say anything because he understands why, understands that this isn't about feelings, it's about being effective, about saving lives, about getting Dom back. There is a voice in the back of his mind asking if there is anything he wouldn't do. Where he draws the line that he won't cross. He thought working with the killer of his friend was one of those. Apparently it's not. For Family, he hears Dom say in his mind, and he thinks, fuck you, you just betrayed your family. He doesn't say it out loud, doesn't say what if Dom is beyond saving, because Letty looks like there is a storm inside of her, tearing her apart and she deserves hope. So he doesn't say anything, does what Roman says without catching a clear thought. Eye of God, sure, he starts it up with Ramsey, threads spilling over the screen in front of him, until they find Dom and Roman clasps his hand on Tej's shoulder and says, told you it would work, and Tej can't do anything but breathe for a second.

 

Then the bombs come down on them and drown out the world. Somewhere through the haze Tej can see Dom, looking like he is gearing up for a war, and next to him on the ground Roman. Tej curls in on himself, and he wants to cry, wants to throw up, to scream, anything, but he doesn't have any control over his body. It easily ranks as one of the top five worst feelings he ever experienced right up there with the couple of seconds it had took Roman to answer his phone after Dom had called to tell Tej about the bomb at the L.A. House and that someone was targeting them.

 

After a while he can move his hands again and then his legs and arms, and he sits up and looks at the destruction around, and Roman's hand is back on his shoulder and he asks, you good? Yeah, Tej says, yeah.

 

On the way to NYC Roman sits next to him in that awful fish truck, staring at his hands and not saying a word, and Tej thinks, god, this is ridiculous. And he keeps thinking, what if Ramsey is reading this situation wrong. And he keeps thinking, what if she is right.

 

Okay, the tank is awesome, he has to admit that. And he still loves the rush, the adrenaline, of course he does or he wouldn't have gotten into racing in the first place. So he shifts gears and weaves through the Manhattan traffic, and it still feels like flying, still gets him high, and for a second he forgets everything else.

 

Until there is Dom, in that monster of a car, and they shoot at him, try to hold him down like the animal they always wanted to convince Dom he isn't. And there Tej asks himself for the first time, why? Why does Dom do all these things? Why does he help Cypher? And suddenly he understands Letty's desperate hope because there has to be a good reason for this. He isn't blinded by Dom, he knows him, knows that he isn't a saint but he isn't a bad guy either. And with Dom there is always a reason, no matter how impulsive he seems.

 

But there isn't much time to think about it, because the car he is sitting in gets flipped over and his head is ringing and his ribs hurt, and Ramsey is hanging in the belt next to him, breathing heavily. They crawl out of the car, Ramsey helps him of the ground, and Tej looks around, looks at the people running and screaming, and at Ramsey looking grim with a gash on her cheek, and Tej realizes that no matter how much they try to help, those people are running from them as well.

 

They have to go to Russia and Roman takes that fucking tacky car, coos over it ad nauseam until Tej understands anyone who has been annoyed when he talked about cars too much. He suddenly just gets it. It's dumb. It's a car, it's a very fast and expensive car but still just a lot of colorful metal and an engine. They are the only ones down by the cars, Tej doesn't even know why he is hear listening to Roman talk to himself about that fucking car, looking like he wants to dry-hump it, when Tej could be up there with Ramsey watching a movie or get some sleep.

 

Can you just shut up for one time in your life, Tej says, and in the dim light Roman looks at him, but doesn't say anything. Tej kisses him then, both hands on his face, as if he expects Roman to fight back, that he has to hold him down to communicate this. But Roman doesn't fight back, just freezes for a second before he goes slack against Tej and kisses back.

 

Tej presses him against that stupid car and kisses him, and Roman's hands are on his shoulders, on his back, on his ass, and somehow Tej had thought this would be harder, or not as good as he imagined it, all the things he told himself to stop wanting it. But now he is here, and Roman says his name like he means something by it, and Tej shushes him, opens the door of the car and shoves him onto the backseat. Roman laughs and it makes Tej go crazy, makes him climb on top of him and forget that anyone could walk in on them at any moment. The urgency makes Tej feel like he is a teenager again, but he doesn't care because he needs Roman, and he needs him now. Roman doesn't object, not even when they make a mess on the backseats, just grasps for Tej and throws his head back, exposing the long line of his neck.

 

Tej comes down from the high, and sits up from where he slumped over Roman, still breathing hard. He can hardly see Roman in the dim light, but he feels his hands still on him, holding onto him. How do you do it, Roman asks, voice low and expression unreadable. What, Tej asks, voice wavering from all the things unspoken. Roman sighs, says, you're just out there living your truth while we other struggle to keep up. Tej considers him for a moment, runs his hand over his chest. Do you really see me like that, he asks, because he doesn't like it, even when he knows that Roman meant it as a compliment, doesn't like the thought of Roman thinking Tej is leaving him behind. Roman doesn't answer him, and then the plane is landing and they have to stash _this_ away for later.

 

It's cold and Roman keeps talking about his dick as if Tej didn't have his hands on it a few hours ago. Maybe it's compensation, or it's just Roman, anyway, Tej is freezing and his hands shake around the binoculars.

 

In the submarine when shit hits the fan, he thinks, this is it, just for a second, he stares through the window into the room where Roman and baby face are trying to find the right panel, and he thinks, this is it.

 

Of course it doesn't end, it just gets worse. They are on the ice and even with the adrenaline pumping through his veins this isn't fun. This isn't fun. He hears Roman's voice through the comms scream his name, and he acts, does what he has to do, doesn't know how, but he does it without shaking hands. And then Dom is back, and there is a piece of them slotting back into place, and it all works out, somehow, maybe Brian's good karma still clinging to all of them. Dom and Letty are lying in each others arms and Roman takes selfies and Tej looks at him in the arctic light, in the ash from the explosion drifting over them, and it's almost too much.

 

They get back on the plane, and they're not even through the charging area when it boils over in Tej, all that he had carefully tucked away, somewhere where no one could see it, and all it takes is one comment from Roman, what a damn shame, you know, the car. Tej feels like he is on fire. Shut up about that fucking car, if you had for once in your life used your brain and chosen something functional this wouldn't have happened. You almost died, Roman. Do you understand that? He wants to rip Roman apart, wants to make him understand how stupid he was, how he can't do that to Tej - - Roman furrows his brows, taking a step closer, as if it's been so simple all this time, and pulls Tej into his arms. Hey, hey, he says, but I didn't. You got me. My hero. You pulled through like you always do. And Tej clings to him, feels himself shaking, and thinks, fuck, I could have lost him, I could have lost him, I could have lost-

 

Roman kisses him, and he is shaking, too, probably from the cold, but he seems so sure, so determined, and his kisses are soft and sweet. Tej sighs against him, his racing thoughts slowly coming to a stop. You're my best friend, Tej admits, opens his eyes and says, I need you alive. That all, Roman asks and Tej grins along with him. No. Romans' eyes drift over his back and he frowns, they're all staring at us. Do I look like I give a fuck, Tej says and kisses him again.

 

At debrief Tej has his head buried in his arms on the table, feels everything catching up with him, the exhaustion crashing over him like a wave. He listens to Mr. Nobody congratulate them on another win, and Hobbs soothing voice telling them to go home and take a break. Ramsey asks, and of course she does, asks Dom what the hell happened to him. Tej isn't sure if he can take any more, but he just has to sit there and listen so he does, and then he feels a hand on his lower back, warm and heavy. He blinks over at Roman who listens to Dom with a serious face, touching Tej casually as if they have been doing this the whole time. Tej catches Letty smirking at him, the humor back in her eyes, holding on tightly to Dom's hand. Tej turns his face back into his arms, and he thinks of Elena, he thinks of Brian, of Gisele, of Han.

 

They don't go home immediately, fly together to Ramsey's place in NYC that has a roof deck with a look over the river. Even if they wouldn't have come from Siberia it would have felt warm, the city gearing up for another sweltering summer. A hot shower and a beer later Tej almost feels human again, and he inspects Ramsey's impressive movie collection, mostly classics and art house with a surprising touch of science-fiction horror. Really, he asks her as she comes around the corner and holds up Pitch Black. Shut up, it's an amazing film, she says and hugs him. He presses his face into her hair and closes his eyes, and thinks about how lucky he got.

 

They have a barbeque or it wouldn't be them, and Shaw must have dropped Dom's son off at some point but Tej didn't notice because Roman kept making him and Ramsey laugh until they were tumbling over each other on the couch. Roman had looked very satisfied. When they are in bed much later that night Roman gets eager but there are people in the next room and in the room after that, so Tej pulls his hands out of his pants and lies his head on Roman's chest. Roman mumbles some complaints but falls asleep almost immediately, and Tej listens to him breathe, feeling his chest rise and fall.

 

Everyone is leaving slowly but surely, getting back to the lives they lead in between jobs, and Roman turns to Tej and says, I have a place in Berlin. Of all the places in the world, Tej says, you wanna go to Berlin? Why not, Roman asks and grins and Tej says, okay, let's go back to Berlin, because last time went so well.

 

Roman's place is an apartment in an area that might have once been rough, now certifiably gentrified, and Tej half expects to walk into one of Roman's ridiculously overexpensive decorated lairs he owns all over the world, where he likes to take the girls he meets, but it's not, the apartment isn't even fully furnished. There is a couch and bed, and everything you need in a kitchen and a bathroom, thank god, but the rest is empty space and white walls. Didn't think I'd actually live here, Roman murmurs, as if he is self-conscious about the state of the apartment. Why the fuck do you own it then, Tej asks, laughing, pulling Roman closer by the waist. Seemed like the thing to do, Roman says, I heard they really get down here.

 

They buy some more furniture over time, from design shops and flee markets, but not too much, and Tej likes it that way, how simple it is, how it is enough to have Roman wake up next to him while the street noises drift in through the open windows. And he kind of understands why Roman wanted to go to Berlin, understands it when Roman grabs his hand on the street, or tells him stories of his childhood, curled together in their bed, or fucks him on the couch until Tej thinks he is going to pass out; maybe Roman feels free here, far away from anything they have ever known.

 

Even Tej has to admit, begrudgingly, that Berlin is a city you can get lost in, in every way possible, and it rarely let's you choose. He is surprised every time they turn a corner and suddenly the big lit shop windows are replaced by burst beer bottles on the ground and gray concrete to the sky. Berlin is dirtier and simpler than Tej had expected, and they eat kebab at street shops and go out in tiny clubs where the floor is sweaty and disgusting and they walk through the few green stretches along the river trying to escape the suppressive heat that seems to be the same in every big city. One day, when the heat is already flickering over the concrete in the morning, they drive up to the coast. It's barely three hours and then there are dunes and cliffs and the sea sparkling under the sunlight. As they lie in the sun and the cool breeze Tej show Roman a photo he found in the apartment, tucked behind a mirror in the corridor. It's Gisele and Han, grinning into the camera, and it looks like they took the photo themselves. It's theirs, Roman says after he has stared at the photo for a while, it's their apartment, Han left it to me, don't know why. He let's his face sink onto his towel and grabs Tej's hand so hard it hurts. Tej holds his hand and looks out over the sea and the white clouds drifting above.

 

Tej thinks, this should get too much, thinks it every morning when he stands in front of the mirror, brushing his teeth, thinks, this should get too much at some point, shouldn't it? But life with Roman never does. Tej keeps waiting for the impulse to run but it never comes.

 

They meet Ramsey in California after a month and some. She is grinning when she comes to pick them up from the airport, always looking more relaxed when she isn't on a job with them, and she crowds them into her adorable convertible and then keeps driving just under the speed limit to rile them up. They want to meet Brian and Mia for lunch the next day, using the morning to go to a street market because they have become that kind of people apparently. Tej and Ramsey get into a discussion of the latest and newest, and he wouldn't change Roman one bit, but god, he misses these talks with Ramsey.

 

Tej notices Roman pout at them from the next booth, and Tej realizes he and Ramsey had stopped walking, too concentrated on the conversation. Roman comes over to them, looking at the sustainably produced tea like he even knows what he is looking at there, and mumbles under his breath, very cute, you two. Ramsey rolls her eyes and Roman goes on, don't mind me, I mean I know you always had a special connection. Ramsey looks at Tej like it's his fault but as Tej tries to tell people again and again he has no control over Roman's action. I thought you'd be less annoying now, Ramsey says, guess I was wrong. Roman looks offended, that stings, Ram, turns to Tej, you love me even though I'm annoying, right? Yeah, I do, Tej says smiling and gives him a quick kiss. It takes him a moment and Roman's wide-eyed look to realize what he has just said. But he's not going to take it back, because, he realizes, he means it.

 

After that Roman keeps shooting him glances, and when Ramsey picks a fight with a vendor about prices of cauliflower, Roman pulls him to the side, hands around his waist and kisses him. God, Roman says, you're unbelievable, rests his head against Tej's forehead and sighs. Tej chuckles and presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

 

Then there is a loud female voice that they know all too well, saying, oh my god, you were right, Ramsey, they're disgustingly adorable. Roman shifts away from Tej, embarrassment written all over his face. Mia stands in front of them, on hand on her hip, the other holding her little girl, next to her Ramsey, who looks equally embarrassed, probably about her own words, and there is Brian, too, blue-eyed, wide smile and holding Jack's hand.

 

Of course we are adorable, Roman mumbles and shoots Ramsey a glare who crosses her arms and says, I take everything back, you are the worst. Tej ignores them and hugs Brian and gives Mia a kiss on the cheek, and he gets introduced to the newest addition to the Toretto family. On the way to lunch Roman gets hung up on a big old painting of a chihuahua that's almost as tall as him. He makes big eyes at Tej, but no way are they going to ship that thing to Berlin, that's just stupid. But it would look so good above the couch, Roman keeps saying, and Tej tells him he should put it in his LA house if he really wants it, where Tej doesn't have to look at it, and ignores the pointed looks Brian, Mia and Ramsey keep exchanging.

 

Lunch is nice, they sit in the sun on the patio of a restaurant and talk about what they talk mostly, about the others that aren't there. Dom and Letty are visiting Elena's family in Brazil so they can get to know little Brian. Big Brian looks very amused about the choice of name, but doesn't say anything except that Dom and Letty better move back to LA so he'll get to know his nephew. They don't talk about the Shaw's, scoot around the topic, and Tej is very thankful for that, because no matter what Dom says, Tej still thinks they deserve to rot in the ground for what they did to them. But he doesn't want to start a fight, not when the weather is so nice, the food so good, and Roman has his hand on his knee under the table. So instead he needles Ramsey with questions about her new project, and Brian and Mia horrify Roman with tales of what it's like to have children.

 

On the way back to Ramsey's place she falls asleep on the backseat. Tej is driving, and Roman looks out of the window as they drive along the coast. Tej realizes how calm he is, how calm he has been for a while, how quiet and easy his thoughts flow, how safe he feels, here with these people. He likes who is around these people. Roman nudges him and looks at him like he wants to ask what's going on. Tej smiles.

 


End file.
